Kids take over the museum

Kids in Museums wants museums, galleries and heritage sites to be welcoming and accessible for all children, young people and families. Recent data from Arts Council England and Verian shows over half of children have not visited a museum in the past 12 months. Our initiatives – including the Kids in Museums Manifesto and Takeover Day – aim to address the complex barriers facing these museum visitors.

Takeover Day gives children and young people a unique behind-the-scenes museum experience. Following previous events themed around the climate emergency and play, our focus this year has returned to museum and heritage careers. This responds to the need to build a diverse talent pipeline for the sector and children and young people’s desire for more positive, hands-on experiences in the workplace.

On Takeover Day, we want children and young people to go beyond passive observation, to instead shadow a museum professional and take on real life museum tasks and projects. Active workplace experience is a hallmark of good careers education and should be easily accessible to everyone who wants it in the museum and heritage sector.

Enabling children to try a range of jobs

Last year, young people from a local SEND academy collaborated with the National Horseracing Museum to write a youth engagement strategy. Children designed and delivered a family craft activity at Segedunum Roman Fort and at the National Army Museum, they even worked in the finance team. As one museum reflected afterwards: “They loved doing ‘grown-up’ jobs they haven’t had the chance to do before. They felt valued and important.”

Research shows children start thinking about careers at primary school. But when we talk to them about museum careers, we commonly find the only job children can name is curator. A big part of Takeover Day is enabling children and young people to try a wider range of museum jobs. This broadens their horizons and shows there are many different museum and heritage careers.

Many are often pleasantly surprised by what they find out about museum jobs on Takeover Day. Some even start to gravitate towards particular roles. One participating museum said: “We heard positive feedback throughout the day from the children and accompanying adults including one child who said they wanted to go into marketing when they were older.”

Building a workforce that better reflects society

Takeover Day participants develop a range of skills. Having the opportunity to learn about caring for a 17^th century manuscript is a rare experience outside further or higher education but on Takeover Day, participants can pick up foundation skills in conservation. They also develop broader skills for employability, including teamwork and planning.

Feeling confident and proud of being in the workplace is another big positive of Takeover Day, particularly for children who live in areas of high unemployment. “They loved being able to actively take on the role of some of the people who worked at the museum and being able to tell their parents about this.”

Building a diverse, skilled museum workforce is essential to addressing the barriers to children and young people visiting museums. We know how important representation is for them and they want to see diverse staff when they visit a museum.

By building a museum workforce that better reflects our society, we ensure museums’ work better reaches historically excluded audiences. If we see Takeover Day as a point of inspiration that encourages a wider range of children and young people to consider museum careers, it’s an important investment in the future.

Perceptions are often outdated

This investment extends beyond the workforce and into audience development. Recent research by Arts Council England and Verian shows children and young people’s perceptions of museums as dull, old-fashioned places persist. Takeover Day changes these views. One museum reported: “At the end of the day, one pupil was heard saying to her teacher ‘Working in a museum isn’t as boring as I thought it was going to be.’” Less anecdotally, around 75% of Takeover Day participants want to visit their local museum again afterwards.

“It gave them a sense of ownership of our art museum that they don’t always get. They were excited to be able to make an impact in the space.” Participating in Takeover Day shows children and young people they can influence museum displays and activities and that staff value their ideas. This helps them feel they belong in museums and encourages staff to think more deeply about engaging younger audiences. One staff member reflected: “I think it’s given me better understanding of the age group and how we can target archives to their mindset and attention spans.”

Having a behind-the-scenes experience at a museum on Takeover Day can be transformative for children and young people. Takeover Day offers inspiration and opens doors to exploring new career pathways. Working on real life museum tasks builds skills and confidence and helps children and young people understand the world of work. Most importantly, Takeover Day helps them feel like museums are for them – they are safe spaces in their community where they belong, can have fun and shape change.